The city by the Bay has a lot that is of interest for mining and the Gold Rush.
It starts right beside the terminus of the Powell St cable car at the corner of Powell and Market where the Flood Building is located. This unique structure was built by James Flood Jr about 1900, survived the 1906 earthquake (despite being consumed by fire), and is still owned by the Flood family. On the first floor of the building there is an exhibit on the Bonanza firm of Comstock fame; James Flood Sr was a principal owner in the firm. There are also artifacts from the fire in 1906 and the ceiling plasterwork and the period elevators are treasures.
After taking the Powell St cable car to the top of Nob Hill, there are wonderful views of the Union League Club, which was Flood’s San Francisco residence, and the Fairmont hotel. The latter is named after James Fair and built by his daughters using reinforced concrete per his request. It also survived the earthquake and fire and it was the inspiration to rebuild the city largely using reinforced concrete. The lobby of the Fairmont is a delight.
Further down the cable car route is the cable car museum and motive center. Here one gets a sense of the systems used to raise the massive hoists that carried ore and miners on the Comstock mines. It was the experience of building the Comstock equipment that allowed San Francisco to build its cable cars in the late 1870s.
Nearby is the financial center and off California St is the Wells Fargo gold rush museum. It highlights the career of Isaias Hellman, who used the significant assistance of both ex governor John Downey and mining magnate John Mackay to create the largest bank on the west coast. Not far away at the corner of Market and Ist Street is the Mechanics Monument, erected with Donohue money to honor their Union Iron Works which built much of the gold and silver processing equipment. Then, two blocks away, on Pine and Market, is the historic Hibernia Bank Building. This great San Francisco financial house was founded the John O’Sullivan and his fellow gold rush Irish in 1859.
The Flood Building
The Fairmont Hotel
The cable car museum
